Keith Heritage MC (1882 – 26 July 1916) was an Australian national champion and representative rower and a

1st AIF The First Australian Imperial Force (1st AIF) was the main expeditionary force of the Australian Army during the First World War. It was formed as the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) following Britain's declaration of war on Germany on 15 Aug ...

officer who fell on the Western Front in

WWI World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting took place mainly in Europe and th ...

. He is credited with being the first Australian to volunteer for the AIF at the outbreak of

and as one of the last Australian officers to leave Anzac Cove at the end of the Gallipoli Campaign. As a rower he was twice an

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

n national champion and he won the

Grand Challenge Cup The Grand Challenge Cup is a rowing (sport), rowing competition for men's eight (rowing), eights. It is the oldest and best-known event at the annual Henley Royal Regatta on the River Thames at Henley-on-Thames in England. It is open to male cr ...

in an Australian representative eight racing as

Sydney Rowing Club Sydney Rowing Club is the oldest rowing club in New South Wales, Australia formed in 1870. It has occupied its current site on Port Jackson's Parramatta River at Abbotsford, New South Wales, Abbotsford Point since 1874. The club has a focus on it ...

at the 1912

Henley Royal Regatta Henley Royal Regatta (or Henley Regatta, its original name pre-dating Royal patronage) is a Rowing (sport), rowing event held annually on the River Thames by the town of Henley-on-Thames, England. It was established on 26 March 1839. It diffe ...

. He saw action in

German New Guinea German New Guinea () consisted of the northeastern part of the island of New Guinea and several nearby island groups, and was part of the German colonial empire. The mainland part of the territory, called , became a German protectorate in 188 ...

Gallipoli The Gallipoli Peninsula (; ; ) is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles strait to the east. Gallipoli is the Italian form of the Greek name (), meaning ' ...

and on the Western Front and was awarded the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level until 1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) Other ranks (UK), other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth of ...

Family history

Born and raised near

Launceston, Tasmania Launceston () is a city in the north of Tasmania, Australia, at the confluence of the North Esk River, North Esk and South Esk River, South Esk rivers where they become the Tamar River, Tasmania, Tamar River (kanamaluka). As of 2021, the Launc ...

, Heritage was one of eight children of George and Eleanora Heritage, of

Longford Longford () is the county town of County Longford in Ireland. It had a population of 10,952 at the 2022 census. It is the biggest town in the county and about one third of the county's population lives there. Longford lies at the meeting of ...

. Keith Heritage's English grandfather James stole a book in Somerset and later, a silver plate worth five pounds. For these crimes he was transported as a convict to Van Diemen's Land.1st Anzac
/ref> James Heritage served his time, trained as a draper's assistant, married and had three children. His son George Heritage, Keith's father, became Tasmania's Inspector of Schools.

Club and state rowing

In 1909 Keith Heritage rowed in the seven seat of the Tasmanian crew which won the men's eight event at the annual Australian Interstate Regatta. The following year he was again in the Tasmanian men's eight. They finished third at that year's interstate regatta. By 1911 Heritage was in Sydney, rowing from

and eligible to row for New South Wales. He was selected in the seven seat of the 1911 New South Wales men's eight which won at that year's Australian Interstate Regatta. In 1912 he was selected in the Australian squad to travel to Europe for the

1912 Stockholm Olympics The 1912 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the V Olympiad () and commonly known as Stockholm 1912, were an international multi-sport event held in Stockholm, Sweden, between 6 July and 22 July 1912. The opening ceremony was he ...

. He was a member of the Australian men's eight which racing as a

entrant, won the

on the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, s ...

at the

. Heritage was then controversially replaced by Hugh Ward, a UK resident Australian medical student who had raced for

New College, Oxford New College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by Bishop William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as New College's feeder school, New College was one of the first col ...

against the Sydney eight at Henley that year. With Heritage changed out for Ward, the Sydney eight went on to compete as an Australasian representative eight in the 1912 Summer Olympics Men's eight race and was knocked out in their second match race - a quarter-final. They were beaten by the same

Leander Leander is one of the protagonists in the story of Hero and Leander in Greek mythology. Leander may also refer to: People * Leander (given name) * Leander (surname) Places * Leander, Kentucky, United States, an unincorporated community * L ...

eight they'd beaten at Henley a few weeks earlier.

Military career

Before leaving Tasmania Heritage had military experience including five years with the Tasmanian Infantry Regiment as a sergeant and six years with the Launceston Infantry Regiment where he held the rank of colour sergeant in a machine-gun section. Post-war research determined that Heritage was the first Australian to enlist for service in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, joining up on 11 August 1914. At the time of joining the army one week after Britain's declaration of war, Heritage was aged 32, a bachelor living in Sydney where he worked for the Union Steam Ship Company as a Traffic Manager.News.com 100 days of heroes
/ref> The

First Australian Imperial Force The First Australian Imperial Force (1st AIF) was the main Expeditionary warfare, expeditionary force of the Australian Army during the First World War. It was formed as the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) following United Kingdom of Great Bri ...

had not yet been formed in August 1914. Heritage joined the

Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force The Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force (AN&MEF) was a small volunteer force of approximately 2,000 men, raised in Australia shortly after the outbreak of World War I to seize and destroy German wireless stations in German New Guin ...

which was assembled and dispatched to New Guinea within days of the war commencing, with the objective of ousting Germany from its colonies in New Guinea. Heritage was appointed a Lieutenant Transport Officer and sailed on the HMAT ''Berima'' on 17 August 1914 to Rabaul, in

New Britain New Britain () is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago, part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from New Guinea by a northwest corner of the Solomon Sea (or with an island hop of Umboi Island, Umboi the Dampie ...

where was part of the force that secured the German communications facility in

.Centenary of Anzac
/ref> Heritage returned to Australia in 1915 and joined the 19th Battalion AIF as a

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

.Heritage at the AIF Project
/ref> On 21 August 1915 he landed at Gallipoli with his

and Australian crew mate Sydney Middleton. He served in Gallipoli for several months until the Anzac force was evacuated and during that period was promoted to captain. He was commended for his work helping plan the troops’ departure under cover of darkness, left the Gallipoli peninsula during the evacuation on the night of 19 December and was one of the last Anzacs to be evacuated from the peninsula. Heritage then served on the Western Front in France. On 1 July 1916 his bravery was noted by General Sir William Birdwood, following a successful raid on enemy trenches on the night of 25–26 June and for which was awarded the Military Cross The citation for the medal, which appeared in ''

The London Gazette ''The London Gazette'', known generally as ''The Gazette'', is one of the official journals of record or government gazettes of the Government of the United Kingdom, and the most important among such official journals in the United Kingdom, i ...

'' in August 1916, reads as follows: The raid was a quick-strike - to be in and out before the Germans could counter-attack. Heritage's raiding party occupied the trenches for just five minutes and blew up two munitions stores. Heritage then ordered his men back to the Australian positions and waited in the German trench until his patrol was on its way back. By this time the main enemy force was fully alerted to what was happening and poured fire towards the Australians. "He carried back a wounded man single-handed and throughout the raid set a fine example of cool courage," the citation concluded. It is likely Heritage never knew of the honour as he was killed in action and buried in the field at Pozieres a month before news of his award was made public. On 26 July 1916, a month after his gallant raid, Heritage was killed in action. While making his rounds in the trenches on 26 July 1916 he told two tired-looking soldiers to take a break. He gave them some of his own food and took up their post. Within moments, a high-explosive shell landed upon him, killing him instantly. According to a statement by Lieutenant L Layton-Smith: "Captain Heritage was killed outright at Pozieres on 26 July 1916. He was buried in the field at Pozieres and a cross was erected over his grave. This however may now have disappeared in view of the subsequent fighting which took place on that ground in 1918." He is commemorated on the British

Pozières Memorial The Pozières Memorial is a World War I war memorial, memorial, located near the commune of Pozières, in the Somme (department), Somme department of France, and unveiled in August 1930. It lists the names of 14,657 British and South African sol ...

, Ovillers-La Boisselle, Pozieres.

Family war service

Four of Heritage's brothers also saw action in the First World War. Francis Bede Heritage was awarded the

French Croix de Guerre The (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awarded during Worl ...

and after the war headed the

Royal Military College, Duntroon The Royal Military College, Duntroon, also known simply as Duntroon, is the Australian Army's Officer (armed forces), officer training establishment. It was founded at Duntroon, Australian Capital Territory, Duntroon in Canberra, Australian Capi ...

. He retired as army quartermaster-general. Lieutenant Austin Heritage also received the Military Cross for leading his men in an attack on a heavily defended position and rallying them while wounded and under heavy fire. Sapper Robert Heritage was serving with a pioneer battalion and was sent home after suffering a severe septic infection. The fifth brother, Stanley Heritage, was working in Nevada when war broke out and he went north to join the Canadian forces.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heritage, Keith 1882 births Australian male rowers 1916 deaths Australian Army officers Australian military personnel killed in World War I Military personnel from Tasmania Sportspeople from Tasmania Australian recipients of the Military Cross